RI a potential dumping site for CFC products
RI a potential dumping site for CFC products
BANDUNG (JP): The government has warned Indonesian manufacturers not to be tempted by foreign countries offering bargain prices for Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), a substance widely used in air conditioning systems and cosmetics.
Because most countries have already banned the use of CFCs due to its damaging effects on the ozone layer, the remaining CFC producing countries -- such as China, India and Greece -- are likely to try dumping their products in other countries, an environmental official said.
Aca Sugandi, assistant to the minister of environment, told reporters on Friday that Indonesian manufacturers should follow the international trend and switch to more eco-friendly substances.
Most industrialized countries banned the use of CFCs on Jan. 1. Indonesia, because of its relatively low per capita use of CFC -- estimated at less than 0.3 per kilo -- has given itself more time. The government formed a national committee to oversee the phasing out of ozone depleting substances in 1994. The committee, chaired by the minister of environment, hopes to complete the phase-out program by 2002.
Aca made his speech after witnessing the signing ceremony of a US$3.16 million grant from the World Bank to nine Indonesian manufacturers to help them switch away from technologies that use ozone-depleting substances.
The ban against CFCs and other ozone depleting substances is regulated under a 1985 Vienna convention and a protocol signed in Montreal in 1987. Indonesia ratified both documents in 1992.
Aca said Indonesian manufacturers should already have begun looking at other substances such as Hydro Chlorofluorocarbon, or HCFC.
He admitted that the switch will require major technological changes and massive financing. He added, however, that manufacturers relying on ozone-depleting substances should start changing their methods of production now because the supply of CFC will soon dry up.
Aca said that other substances are also being targeted, including Metil Bromide, which is widely used in Indonesia for producing pesticides and fungicides, both essential to farming.
"We've not ratified the convention (on Metil Bromide) because we're still using quite a lot of it," he said.
Rather than phasing it out, the government might start by restricting its use either through presidential instruction or a ministerial decree, he said.
"We can't simply phase it out because the users will protest," he added. (17/emb)